Republican Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert will run for state Attorney General (AG) in 2022, forgoing an all-but-certain reelection campaign.
“I’d announced a couple days ago that if I could raise one million dollars, I’d run for Attorney General,” he told Newsmax’s Grant Stinchfield. “As of now, I have the money. It’s been raised. I will be running for the Texas Attorney General’s job.”
“Though our current AG has had two terms it seems he really started working harder after so many of his most honorable and very top people in the AG’s office left complaining of criminal conduct,” Gohmert added in a campaign announcement posted to YouTube. He joins a crowded field that includes incumbent Ken Paxton and Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush. Former aides accused Paxton in 2020 of taking bribes, and four of the aides filed a whistleblower lawsuit against him. The FBI is reportedly investigating the case.
“If you elect me, I will not wait to be my busiest until after there’s some bad press about legal improprieties,” he added.
Gohmert noted that his priorities will be “election integrity, so that every legal vote counts,” preventing “unconstitutional mandates,” and deterring illegal immigration. He blasted Paxton for “fail[ing] to ensure Texas abided by the same constitutional provisions that he was suing the other states for violating” in the aftermath of the 2020 election, noting Paxton’s failed lawsuit against Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
Multiple federal judges dismissed a lawsuit filed by Republican candidates to halt drive-through voting in Harris County.
Gohmert is the 29th member of the House, and the 12th Republican, to decline to run for re-election in 2022. He is the second, after Democratic Maryland Rep. Anthony Brown, to run for his state’s attorney general position. He is also the fourth Texas representative, after Democrats Eddie Bernice Johnson and Filemon Vela, and Republican Kevin Brady, to retire from Congress. (RELATED: Texas Rep. Kevin Brady To Retire From Congress)
A former state Court of Appeals judge, Gohmert most recently won his district, Texas’ First, by 45 percentage points in 2020. He has represented it since 2005. The district includes Tyler and Longview. It is expected to be a Republican hold in 2022.